Sideways

Some times to go back another generation we have to go sideways. That means looking at siblings.
If you are lucky enough to know who all of your ancestors' siblings are and where they lived in relationship to where your ancestor lived, then it is easy.In my case, I needed to link my g-g-g-g-g-g-great-grandfather to his father. I know both of there names and I had his brothers names but could not find a document to prove the connection, father to son. I found land records that show the father and all of the sons and brothers were a the land office on the same day. And I could deduct that they knew each other and were probably related as the land grants were in numerical order. But that was NOT proof that they were related.

So I started looking at records of the brothers of my ancestor. I was fortunate enough to find a court record that showed that my ancestor's older brother was appointed executor of his fathers estate. And in that record, there were all of the children listed by name, including g-g-g-g-g-g-great grandfather. So don't discount going sideways every once in a while.

Another reason to go sideways is just for fun. You get a better picture of what the family was like by looking at it from many views. And for fun take a look at what other genealogists are doing. I stumbled upon the blog called, "The Diary of a Mad Genealogist" by Jen. and found myself wanting to connect with even more fellow researchers.  Have fun even if it takes you in a new direction!

Cemetery Trips

Cemeteries are like taxes to the genealogist, you just can't avoid them. You have to pay your taxes and sooner or later, you will go to the cemetery. Cemeteries are full of great information for the genealogist. There's headstone information, date of death, wife, husband, child. Then there's other information that may be a surprise...

 It was a family fact that our relatives seemed to be buried at the same cemetery and one day early in my research, I convinced my father to go with me to show me where his grandmother was buried. I would have never found her as she doesn't have a headstone which surprised me. 

We spent the morning walking from site to site and talking about dead relatives.  My dad took me to his parents, aunts and uncles graves and as an after thought we stopped by his grandmother's sisters plots. There, I found several NEW names that I didn't have before. The SURNAMES were unfamiliar to me. If I had been by myself, I would have missed that information. If you can, take an older relative with you, it will be worth your time and you may hear old family stories that you would have never heard otherwise. Keep in mind that you should always verify the information you find on headstones with death certificates or other records.

On a trip to Colma, CA to find my dad's grandfather I wasted an hour walking around in circles, looking for the headstone that didn't exist. All of the information, I gathered came from the office that day. 

If you go, be sure to visit the office of the cemetery and have the records pulled. The records provide information that you may have not thought about, such as who owns the plot, other parties that may have paid for expenses, date of death, doctors names etc.. Before you go make a plan of who you want to find, what other relatives could be there and questions to ask the office.

If you can't go, there are a number of good resources for this information Here's just a few:

• The CCCGS website has the Oakview Cemetery records listed.
• On-line: Find a Grave has records for 33 Cemeteries in Contra Costa County.

• Douglas Keister has written: Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Symbolism and Iconography. 

What cemetery stories do you have?